The Jaguars sank their teeth into a stray comment last week from Broncos coach Sean Payton regarding Jacksonville being a “smaller market.” And it worked.
Jaguars coach Liam Coen mentioned it in his address to the locker room. He repeated it in his post-game press conference. And he’ll likely keep using it to inspire his players for as long as their inevitable postseason run lasts.
On Monday, Payton was asked about the catch phrase he inadvertently gift wrapped for the Duval upstarts.
“It was very complimentary and those guys are playing outstanding football,” Payton told reporters. “That topic came up strictly because, hey, not enough of the country has seen how good these guys are playing. . . . The point is though, listen, that was a good job by Liam. He was looking for a rallying cry. Obviously, if you were listening to the press conference, the intention was strictly, ‘Hey, quietly these guys are sitting here right near the top of the AFC, they’re ready to win their division.’ I spent 16 years at a small market. It was just a way for a coach to take it and use it to his advantage.”
He’s right. And Coen was smart to seize on the remark in an effort to give his team a late-season spark.
Coaches look for anything they can use. It’s part of the job. Finding any actual, perceived, embellished (if necessary), or fabricated (if all else fails) disrespect to fuel the fire.
In this case, here’s what Payton said about the Jaguars last week: “As you look at them and you watch the tape, it’s a smaller market but you see a real good team.”
The fact that the NFL left one of the most compelling games of Week 16 in a 4:05 p.m. ET regional window highlights the reality that the league and the networks still aren’t expecting big numbers for Jaguars games. The failure to nudge the contest to 4:25 p.m. ET (where Steelers-Lions headlined the window) or 8:20 p.m. ET (where Patriots-Ravens supplanted Bengals-Dolphins) proves it.
So don’t be mad at Sean Payton. Be mad at the NFL. Heck, be mad at anyone and everyone who acknowledges the undeniable, objective fact that Jacksonville has one of the 32 NFL franchises despite being the country’s 41st biggest market, just ahead of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
If it works, use it.
Jaguars Clips
Sunday’s game between the Jaguars and Broncos wasn’t treated like a marquee attraction on the broadcast schedule, but anyone who saw it got a chance to see the Jaguars make their case as one of the top teams in the AFC.
The Jaguars ended the Broncos’ 11-game winning streak with an emphatic 34-20 road win that extended their own winning streak to six games. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence continued a hot streak that’s seen him account for 14 touchdowns and no turnovers over the last four games and the team has looked like the kind of complete package that could make noise in the postseason for the first time in many years.
It’s the sort of victory that can bring the attention and respect that the Jaguars felt was missing a couple of weeks ago, but defensive end Travon Walker said he’d rather people keep the same opinion about the team that they’ve held all season.
“They just gonna hop on the bandwagon right now,” Walker said on the team’s postgame show. “Everybody in this locker room on the Jaguars team, even upstairs, we know everybody’s probably going to try to hop on this bandwagon now, but we don’t want anybody. They can stay where they’re at. It’s us. It’s all about the Jags. F—k everybody but us. Excuse my language, dad, grandmama, but f—k everybody but us.”
Whether one calls it jumping on the bandwagon or something else, there’s going to be a shift in how people talk about the Jags in light of Sunday’s win. That narrative will shift again if they stumble in the next couple of weeks and wind up behind the Texans in the AFC South, so ignoring the way those winds are blowing and focusing on the task at hand will continue to be the best course of action in Jacksonville.
Broncos wide receiver Pat Bryant suffered a scary injury on Sunday on which he stayed down for several minutes, was taken off the field on a stretcher, and put directly on an ambulance. But the news on Bryant Monday morning is good.
Bryant was released from the hospital within hours, according to multiple reports.
Although Bryant was diagnosed with a concussion, he cleared all other testing and does not have a neck or spinal injury, which was an initial concern given his posture when he was knocked to the ground.
Bryant was hit hard by Jaguars cornerback Montaric Brown while leaping to catch a high pass over the middle from Bo Nix on the second-to-last play of the Broncos’ 34-20 loss. Brown led with his shoulder, and while one official initially threw a flag, after a discussion Brown was not penalized for the hit.
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said recently that he doesn’t think his team gets the respect they deserve, but that should change after Sunday’s performance.
Lawrence threw three touchdowns and ran for another to help the Jaguars to a 34-20 win in Denver. The win is the sixth in a row for the Jaguars and it put an end to the Broncos’ 11-game winning streak.
Lawrence had four touchdown passes in last Sunday’s win over the Jets and he has 12 over the last four games. He set a career-high with 26 touchdown passes for the season and also has a career-high seven rushing touchdowns. All in all, he has looked like the franchise quarterback that many in Jacksonville have been aching to see over the last couple of seasons and his ascension could not be coming at a better time for the Jags.
Wide receiver Parker Washington was the chief beneficiary of Lawrence’s accuracy on Sunday. He had six catches for 145 yards and a score to continue his breakout third NFL season.
Denver has been adept at pulling off comebacks this season, but a pair of turnovers dashed those hopes this week. A botched handoff to Jaleel McLaughlin led to a lost fumble and quarterback Bo Nix got picked off by Jaguars cornerback Jarrian Jones after a Jaguars three-and-out kept the door open for some last-minute heroics.
Wide receiver Pat Bryant was injured late in the game on a big hit by Jaguars defensive back Montaric Brown and he was carted off after extensive attention from the team’s medical staff. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw also left the game with an injury.
The win lifts the Jaguars to 11-4 on the season and they will clinch a playoff spot if the Colts lose on Monday night. The win also opens the door to a run at the top seed in the AFC and opens the door to the Patriots moving back up the pecking order if they can beat the Ravens on Sunday night.
Lawrence got his ankle retaped late in the game, so his practice status will be something to watch heading into the Jags’ Week 17 road game against the Colts. They’ll also be keeping eyes on cornerback Greg Newsome, right guard Patrick Mekari and cornerback Jourdan Lewis after they left the game with injuries.
The 12-3 Broncos have already clinched a playoff berth, but they have not sewn up the AFC West title. They’ll face the ailing Chiefs on Christmas, which should help their chances of righting the ship after their first loss since September. If they can’t, a Week 18 date with the 11-4 Chargers looms as a potential battle for the divisional crown. That keeps things more interesting than Sean Payton and company would have liked as the end of the regular season comes into view.
The Broncos pulled off one of this season’s most improbable comebacks against the Giants and they will need a little more fourth quarter magic to extend their winning streak to 12 games.
A Cam Little field goal with just over a minute off the clock in the fourth quarter put the Jaguars up 34-17 in Denver. The Broncos were down 18 points to the Giants in the fourth quarter before pulling off a win in October.
Broncos rookie running back RJ Harvey tied the game 17-17 with a touchdown run on the Broncos’ first possession of the second half, but the Jaguars scored back-to-back touchdowns before the Broncos lost a fumble on a botched handoff. The defense held for the Little field goal and Denver’s offense came back to life on a 48-yard pass from quarterback Bo Nix to wide receiver Troy Franklin.
Nix couldn’t complete any passes into the end zone, however, and a Wil Lutz field goal cut the Jaguars lead to 34-20 with 10:44 left to play.
The Broncos came back in the second half against the Packers at home last week for their 11th straight win and they’ll need to mount another comeback in Denver to stretch their winning streak to 12.
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half and then drove for a Cam Little field goal as time expired in the second quarter. The result is a 17-10 lead for the road team.
Lawrence hooked up with wideout Parker Washington and tight end Brenton Strange for the two scores. He is 13-of-21 for 130 yards and now has six touchdown passes over his last six quarters of work.
The Washington touchdown opened the scoring and the Broncos answered with 10 straight points, but they also missed a field goal in the first quarter and punted twice during the first 30 minutes. They will get the ball to open the second half and they’ll need to find a way to put more points on the board given how well the Jaguars have been able to move the ball so far on Sunday.
The Jaguars got on the board first in Denver, but the Broncos have come up with an answer.
Quarterback Bo Nix found wide receiver Courtland Sutton for a 15-yard touchdown with 12:46 to play in the first half. The touchdown tied the score at 7-7.
Nix opened the scoring drive by hooking up with tight end Evan Engram for a 33-yard gain and then had a 12-yard run to keep the team moving toward the end zone.
Sutton also had a seven-yard catch before his score and already has four catches for 53 yards on the afternoon.
The crowd noise in Denver has often benefitted the Broncos, but it hurt them in the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Jaguars.
Jacksonville committed a false start on a third-and-10, but Broncos safety P.J. Locke did not hear the whistle and hit quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Locke was flagged for unnecessary roughness for hitting Lawrence after the whistle and NFL rules said that only the Denver penalty was assessed on the play.
The Jaguars got new life thanks to the penalty and used it to drive for a 12-yard Lawrence touchdown pass to wide receiver Parker Washington.
Broncos kicker Wil Lutz had a 44-yard field goal go off the upright on the previous possession, so it is 7-0 Jaguars after one quarter of play.
Jaguars wide receiver Jakobi Meyers will be sticking around in Jacksonville beyond this season.
Meyers and the Jaguars have agreed on a three-year contract extension through the 2028 season, according to multiple reports.
The Jaguars traded fourth- and sixth-round draft picks to the Raiders to acquire Meyers just before the trade deadline. Meyers was set to become an unrestricted free agent after the season, but now he’s part of the Jaguars’ long-term plans.
Meyers has quickly established himself as the Jaguars’ No. 1 receiver: His 27 catches for 355 yards since arriving in Week Nine lead the team during that span. Now the Jaguars expect him to keep serving as a top option for Trevor Lawrence for years to come.
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence has been playing some of his best football of the season during the team’s current five-game winning streak and he reached new heights in last Sunday’s 48-20 win over the Jets.
The Jaguars scored points on eight of their first nine possessions in the game and six of those scores were touchdowns. Lawrence threw for five of them and ran the ball into the end zone for the sixth.
Lawrence finished the day 20-of-32 for a season-high 330 yards and he ran five times for 51 yards.
The NFL announced on Wednesday that Lawrence has been named the AFC offensive player of the week. It’s the fourth time Lawrence has taken that award in his career and the first time since Week 11 of the 2023 season.
